Fourth Tuesday of Easter

When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

Many of Jesus’ first disciples hadn’t expected the Gentiles to accept the Good News and become Christians. This wasn’t necessarily part of the plan they’d envisioned. However, even in death Jesus was reminding them God’s Plan isn’t limited to an earthly kingdom, nor is it limited to one ethnicity. Rather, His Divine Mercy is for all of His children, no matter their upbringing. His Forgiveness can’t be contained to one people and so it goes forth and spreads like a wildfire to all the nations. Sometimes our own ideas about our faith are limiting, but we need to remember God’s Divine Plan is bigger than just us. It touches everything in Creation and though we might not understand it, our own difficulties and sufferings might be leading to a greater, unseen good we will only understand when God reveals Himself to us on the Day of Judgment.

What in our lives hasn’t gone to plan? How can we learn to let go and let God lead us to where we need to be? How can we live up to the name of Christian?

O Lord, help us to see the grace of God in our lives and follow where you lead us.

Amen.